Beef and veal consumption down in the EU
Beef and veal performed relatively well during much of the 2000s, once demand had returned to normal after the BSE crisis on the continent. But there was a downturn in supply availability in 2008 and again in 2012 and 2013, AHDB Beef & Lamb revealed, using data from the EU.
The data showed that per capita consumption of beef and veal amounted to 10.6kg retail weight in 2014. This represented a reduction of 1kg, compared with 2009, and was also less than the average figure of 12kg per annum in the 2004-2007 period.
Beef and veal now has a market share of less than 16% of the total EU meat market, compared with over 18% in the mid-2000s.
The result, according to AHDB, is that it has lost out to poultry meat. Over the same period poultry meat increased its market share from 29% to 33%, per capita consumption in retail weight (22 kg) – almost double that of beef and veal.
Consumption varies across the EU. In both France and Italy there has been a strong loyalty to and tradition of consuming beef, although in recent years per capita beef and veal consumption has declined under the difficult economic pressures.
The beef and veal market in both countries is also less important than that of pig meat, but not poultry meat, AHDB said.
There is also obviously a strong tradition of consuming beef in the UK, but per capita consumption is still lower than that for pig meat. Also, in line with the situation in the EU as a whole, the beef and veal market is now little more than half that of poultry meat.
In the German market there is less loyalty towards beef, given strong consumer preference for pig meat and the growing importance of poultry. But its consumption of beef and veal has held up well from 2009 onwards in comparison with the EU as a whole, helped by the better economic situation during much of the period.
In the new member states of East Europe, beef is of only minor importance. For example in Poland, which is the sixth-largest consumer market in terms of population, per capita consumption is only 1kg.
Beef is mainly used in sausages, while pig meat and, increasingly, poultry meat dominates the meat market.
AHDB Beef & Lamb said: “It is clear that future beef demand in the EU will continue to partly depend upon the economic outlook, which at least during the course of 2015 is starting to look more positive than it has for some time.
“However, beef will continue to suffer from being higher in price than its protein alternatives, and the ongoing strong competition from the poultry meat sector.”
